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There is a lot happening
in East Garston these days so come along to this Open Day
to find out more about the exciting projects that are being
run by members of the community for the benefit of the community.
This proclamation came from the flyer advertising the day's
event ~ irresistible I thought so off I went. Approaching
the village hall one became aware of the high level of "conversational
buzz" coming from within. Once inside, an impressive
array of stalls, display boards and wares greeted the visitor.
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| So,
what was today all about? ~ Maria Carver explains;
The open day was designed to promote the organizations within
our community as well as allowing the community the opportunity
to view the new village shop plans. It was decided that the
'shop stall' on the open day should be used to promote the
local producers of meat, cheese, vegetables, bread and other
'deli' products. |
The new Community
Shop plans |
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The Cricket Club
had on display a collection of trophies, including the "Stan
Moore Trophy" and the coveted "Roy Hunt Trophy."
Ambitious plans for a new cricket pitch were also on display.
The working method statement illustrates quite graphically,
the complexity of this undertaking. Below is just a brief
summary taken from within the working statement. |
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The proposed
development comprises of the stripping of topsoils and the
cutting and filling with in-situ chalk. The overall scheme
requires the excavation and placement of approximately 6000
cubic metres of soils and chalk.
Before work can commence the existing public footpaths crossing
the site will need to be diverted around the periphery of
the proposed playing area.
Following removal of soils the underlying
chalk will be excavated from the upper slopes and directly
placed in compacted layers on the lower areas of the site.
There is a sewer-main crossing the site as indicated on drawing
HDA 424.1/02A. Ground levels above the sewer alignment will
remain unaffected by the works and crossing points will be
temporarily reinforced if required. No soil or chalk materials
will be exported from the site.
French drains will be constructed at the foot of the two main
slopes to accommodate exceptional surface run-off. Drains
will be cut into the underlying chalk to provide free drainage. |
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| Locally
made hand crafted Jewellery and cards for all occasions |
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All Saints' Church displays, under
the ever attentive care of churchwarden Sally Wright, and
PCC member Elved Philips. The displays reminded us pictorially
of the dramatic way in which the church has grown in stature
within East Garston, and is a fitting statement to the way
in which The Reverend Tony Cumberlidge has worked minor miracles
in this area. Currently, Tony is convalescing from an operation,
but if you do read this Tony, With all due respects to revs
Martin Partridge and Nigel Sands, Get well soon my friend,
the parish is missing you. |
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At intervals throughout the day
this website was projected onto a large screen by James
Pryer via equipment that he had provided for the day. Interspersed
with his presentations, James also ran through some of the
old parish photos that were used in the Millennium Book
titled " East Garston Past & Present" These
precious images from a time long gone, produced a great
deal of interest among residents. Colin Pounds told me that
watching these with Cath Petty and June Crook had been a
real trip down memory lane.
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Among James' vintage pictures was this
one of the Queens Arms taken in the 1930s.
The Queen’s Arms itself appears listed in
Kelly’s Directory of 1895. Charles Waterman
was the publican in 1915, succeeded by Albert
Baker who pulled the pumps in the 1920s and 1930s.
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With all the vintage photos
available to me, why? would I choose to feature a photo
of the Queen's Arms. Well the reason was a topical one.
As we all know, the Queen's Arms has recently acquired new
owners and is, as I write, undergoing extensive refurbishment.
Our local village inn now becomes part of the "Miller's
Collection" A browse through the respective websites
of the Miller's Collection of inns would seem to indicate
that our dear old "Queens" has indeed, passed
into the right hands. Matt Green-Armytage will be
the Head chef and Licensee when refurbishment is completed,
this is hoped to be achieved by the end of August. Matt
is looking to open around the beginning of September.
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Matt, accompanied
by Lucy Townsend, attended the community open day and spoke
enthusiastically to very many people about the plans they
have for The Queens Arms. Lucy is Director & Owner of
Miller’s Collection Ltd.~ the company that owns all
the Inns. It was also a pleasure to welcome two other members
of the team to our village. (above right)
Luke M Luke can be seen
in conversation with two local residents. (Above
Left) The right index finger of Charlotte Day
can be seen placing the Queens Arms onto the parish map. Charlotte
will be coming to the Queens' to work as a waitress in due
course. |
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Matt Green-Armytage |
Lucy Townsend |
Click
to read
Sample Menus |
Click
for
Vacancies |
Luke M
Luke |
Charlotte
Day |
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Click on the respective
links above to visit the other Miller's Collection of Inns. |
Unfortunately our treble bell which
is over 250 years old has developed a crack around its shoulder
and around its rim – apart from spoiling the tone
of the bell, the crack is getting bigger and the bell will
eventually split. In addition, the fittings - which themselves
have been in place for over a century - are also in need
of some improvement. We need to raise in excess of £10,000
to get the bell removed from the bell tower and re welded
and to carry out the other work. If you have
any queries about bellringing or would like to join the
band, please contact Mark Brock on 01488 648373 or e-mail
~ mark.brock@btinternet.com.
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Hilary Reem (above
left) displays a comprehensive and varied selection
of hand thrown pottery. In addition to her pottery, Hilary
also creates sculptures, all of which are produced in her
workshop here in the heart of the village.
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The Parish or Community
Plan |
The Rural White Paper provided communities
with a fantastic opportunity to transform their local environment,
in the form of a parish plan. The key to the success of
the parish plan lies in its local implementation, giving
a community the opportunity to interpret and present their
output in a diversity of ways. Communities are growing
and changing all around us. Most people have strong views
on whether this change is for the better or the worse, but
unfortunately for the vast majority of individuals this
is as far as their involvement will go. Parish plans give
everyone in the community the opportunity to influence the
development of their surroundings.
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Part
of the process of developing a Community Plan is to make a
model of the village. This is fun for the children but it
is also a valuable tool in discussing what people like about
their community and what new features they would like to suggest.
On Saturday 28th June children at the Saturday Kids Club helped
Sarah Ward from Community Action West Berkshire and Penny
Locke paint the model. They mixed some lovely shades of green
to paint the hills and covered the polystyrene boards with
paper in preparation for the next phase of painting. The children
really enjoyed themselves and pretty much most of the paint
ended up on the model. |
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Initially, letters,
together with a few questions on an attached sheet, were sent
to all homes in the Parish asking for the views of all members
of the household, not forgetting that children's views are
also needed. From a total of 248 delivered ~ 76 replies were
received back (31%). |
Based on those 76
replies, The top five likes and dislikes appertaining to the
parish are reproduced below |
TOP
FIVE LIKES |
MMM |
TOP
FIVE DISLIKES |
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The People/Community
spirit/Care/Friendly |
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No Shop
or Post Office |
The Quietness |
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Speeding
through the village |
Picturesque/Attractive
village/Area |
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Poor Mobile
Phone Reception |
No through
traffic/Open/Green spaces are well maintained |
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Dog Fouling/Speeding
on Main Road |
Racing and
it's community/Stable open days |
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No Pub |
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Back at the 'Shop Stall' Julie Clayton
hands over the reins to Maria Carver and Sarah Montgomery.
Business was brisk with, I am told, all the bread items being
sold by 2pm even though the prices were all substantially
higher than the norm. Maria explained that the reason for
the higher prices was simply that this particular collection
of Bakery items had been supplied by a small family baker,
who is a producer of high quality bread items. Yes they would
indeed be sold in the shop but sold alongside the more commercially
produced bread.
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Prices were without
doubt a frequent topic of conversation, with some residents
pointing out that it would be difficult for them to support
the shop fully if the prices they were looking at today were
a true reflection on the shop as a whole. So on their behalf,
I put these concerns to members of the shop committee.
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| Maria
Carver: |
There
were two blackboards displayed at the open day, one itemized
the products that would be sold in the new shop from household
cleaning through to organic meat, the other blackboard was
used to promote the additional services that the shop would
provide e.g. free food box deliveries, E-top ups etc. Obviously
there are concerns that need to be allayed. In short, the
open day was to showcase the higher end of what the shop will
eventually stock, and of course, the shop will also be supplying
the everyday essentials e.g. bread etc. It was clear from
the questionnaire that there was a need for local food and
'deli'style products. When the shop is open, these products
will form a Small percentage of what the shop stocks, since
the emphasis will be on everyday items, the weekends will
be used to promote the high quality bread etc. |
| Julie
Clayton: |
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I was asked a few times on the day about
the prices. I did tell people that the goods for sale on 19th
were the locally produced ones and that there had not been
enough space for all the items. I also showed people the blackboards
which did re-assure them (I thought). However
I can imagine that many people didn't even see them as they
were behind the stall. It would have been better to put them
in a place that was obvious to the customers but lack of space
made that impossible.
I must say the main comments I got were about
the bread - for as many that said it was very expensive (to
which I told them we were displaying the "speciality"
range but there would, of course be, the normal lower priced
choice as well) I had an equal amount who said how wonderful
it was to have the lovely choice that was on offer on the
day - one lady said it would be the reason she shopped at
East Garston Community Shop.
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| Richard
Brooks : |
The
shop needs to cater for a diverse community and we understand
that. There is no point selling to the exclusion of one part
or the other. It is understood that there are people who are
worried because they must have reasonably priced staple items
and the core of the products will be aimed to suit them. The
same goes for services hence the sterling efforts made by
Maria to maintain the Post Office. It is not a hobby project
done for fun but a business that is there to succeed if at
all possible. That means that it has to appeal to everyone
in different ways and there is no reason at all why that cannot
be done. |
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So
there you have it, a concise and clearly defined
mandate from the committee. I sincerely hope the
replies given will help to dispel any lingering
doubts. Thank you to Maria, to Julie and to Richard,
for taking the time to explain in clear, and fully
defined detail, the route that the new shop will
be taking. |
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Photos : Ken Tarbox.
with much appreciated submissions from
Sarah Ward : Penny Locke :
Colin Pounds and The Miller's Collection.
Text : Ken Tarbox compiled
from Various sources.
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